Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Secularism "Nothing is more fallacious or inimical to genuine religious liberty than the seductive notion that the state should "favor" or "foster" religion. All history testifies that such practices inevitably result in favoring one religion over less powerful minorities and secular opinion." — Edward L. Ericson

What Liberals Believe First Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Rights of a Citizen in a Democracy—Dignity "Here is the real political story, the one most politicians won't even acknowledge: the reality of the anonymous, disquieting daily struggle of ordinary people . . . searching for dignity and fairness against long odds in a cruel market world." — Bill Moyers, "For America's Sake," Nation (January 22, 2007)

What Liberals Believe Second Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Conservative Impulse—Hypocrisy "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men." — Matthew 6:6

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Basketball "We're going to turn this team around 360 degrees." — Jason Kidd, New Jersey Nets player

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Security "Only in growth, reform, and change, paradoxically enough, is true security to be found." — Anne Morrow Lindbergh

What Liberals Believe First Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Rights of a Citizen in a Democracy—Free Speech "When liberals disagree with me, they send in long, logical e-mails explaining all my errors. I hardly ever get well-reasoned articles from the right. People just tell me to shut up." — Roger Ebert, in an interview with Matthew Rothschild, Progressive (August 2003)

What Liberals Believe Second Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Conservative Impulse—Market Fundamentalism "Market fundamentalism ultimately rests on a fairy tale in which each person's pursuit of his or her self-interest automatically serves the common good." — Fred Block, "Reframing the Political Battle: Market Fundamentalism vs. Moral Economy," Longview Institute (January 30, 2007)

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Basketball "Are you any relation to your bother, Marv?" — Leon Wood, New Jersey Nets player, to Steve Albert, Nets TV commentator

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Self "Be a first-rate version of yourself, not a second-rate version of someone else." — Judy Garland

What Liberals Believe First Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Rights of a Citizen in a Democracy—Freedom "Each generation must recreate liberty for its own times. Whether or not we establish freedom rests with ourselves." — Florence Ellinwood Allen, This Constitution of Ours (1940)

What Liberals Believe Second Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Conservative Impulse—Materialism "That happiness is to be attained through limitless material acquisition is denied by every religion and philosophy known to mankind, but is preached incessantly by every American television set." — Robert Bellah, The Broken Covenant (1975)

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Basketball "A lot is said about defense, but at the end of the game, the team with the most points wins—the other team loses." — Isaiah Thomas

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Service "Everyone can be great because anyone can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't even have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. . . .You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love." — Martin Luther King, Jr.

What Liberals Believe First Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Rights of a Citizen in a Democracy—Homeland Security "Welcome to the American Gestapo. Be careful what you say and do. They are watching and they will be watching from now on." — Doug Thompson, "Welcome to the American Gestapo," Capitol Hill Blue (November 20, 2002)

What Liberals Believe Second Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Conservative Impulse—Misogyny "Admitting violence against women is pervasive does not make me a victim. It makes me a realist." — Kim Antieau, "Have We Come a Long Way?" Common Dreams (March 3, 2004)

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Basketball "It's almost like we have ESPN." — Magic Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers player, referring to how well teammate James Worthy and he play together

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Sex "Women complain about sex more than men. Their gripes fall into major categories: (1) Not enough. (2) Too much." — Ann Landers

What Liberals Believe First Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Rights of a Citizen in a Democracy—Human Rights "The CIA is holding an unknown number of prisoners in secret detention centers abroad. In violation of the Geneva Conventions, it has refused to register those detainees with the International Red Cross or to allow visits by its inspectors. Its prisoners have "disappeared," like the victims of some dictatorships." — Editorial, "Vice President for Torture," Washington Post (October 26, 2005)

What Liberals Believe Second Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Conservative Impulse—Punishment "The U. S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Higher even than Russia with its notorious Gulag system. One in thirty-seven of our adults are in prison." — Bob Burnett, "Tookie Williams—On the Killing Floor," Common Dreams (December 12, 2005)

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Basketball "I can't really remember the names of the clubs that we went to." — Shaquille O'Neal, Los Angeles Lakers player, on whether he had visited the Parthenon during a trip to Greece

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Sexism "If you have any doubts that we live in a society controlled by men, try reading down the index of contributors to a volume of quotations, looking for women's names." — Elaine Gill

What Liberals Believe First Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Rights of a Citizen in a Democracy—Police State "Is America becoming what it most fears: a big brother state ruled by dictator, where no one is protected from eavesdropping by the secret police, and everything is permitted in defense of the homeland, including torture?" — Philip James, "The American Nightmare," Guardian (UK) (December 22, 2005)

What Liberals Believe Second Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Conservative Impulse—Social Darwinism "We believe that while survival of the fittest may be a good working description of the process of evolution, a government of humans should elevate itself to a higher order." — Mario Cuomo, in his speech to the Democratic National Convention (July 16, 1984)

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Basketball "My sister's expecting a baby, and I don't know if I'm going to be an uncle or an aunt." — Chuck Nevitt, North Carolina State basketball players, on why he appeared nervous at practice

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Silence "You have not converted a man because you have silenced him." — John Morley

What Liberals Believe First Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Rights of a Citizen in a Democracy—Privacy "If the right of privacy means anything, it is the right of the individual, married or single, to be free from unwarranted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the decision whether to bear or beget a child." — William J. Brennan, Jr., Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972)

What Liberals Believe Second Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Conservative Impulse—Absolutes "There is no absolute knowledge. And those who claim it, whether they are scientists or dogmatists, open the door to tragedy. All information is imperfect. We have to treat it with humility." — Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man (1973)

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Basketball "Tom." — Tom Missalke, coach of the Houston Rockets, when asked how he pronounced his name

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Simplicity "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction." — Albert Einstein

What Liberals Believe First Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Rights of a Citizen in a Democracy—Reproductive Rights "Free societies allow their citizens to make their own reproductive decisions; repressive ones restrict them." — Steven Conn, "In Struggle for Women's Freedom, Which Side Is U. S. On?" St. Paul Pioneer Press (June 23, 2006)

What Liberals Believe Second Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Conservative Impulse—Arrogance "There is a sense that tells it's wrong to presume to speak for God or to claim God's sanction of our particular legislation and his rejection of all other positions. Most of us are offended when we see religion being trivialized by its appearance in political throw-away pamphlets." — Mario Cuomo, in his speech at the University of Notre Dame (September 13, 1984)

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Basketball "I'll always be Number 1 to myself." — Moses Malone, Philadelphia 76ers player

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On The Sixties "The freedom that women were supposed to have found in the sixties largely boiled down to easy contraception and abortion; things to make life easier for men, in fact." — Julie Burchill

What Liberals Believe First Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Rights of a Citizen in a Democracy—Same-Sex Marriage "Same-gender marriage harms no one, whereas prohibiting civil marriage for gays and lesbians harms these couples and their children." — American Academy of Pediatrics, report quoted in "Decision on Gay Marriage Is Absurd," Newsday (July 12, 2006)

What Liberals Believe Second Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Conservative Impulse—Authoritarianism "It makes no sense to fight religious authoritarianism abroad while letting take over at home." — Michelle Goldberg, "Saving Secular Society," In These Times (May 16, 2006)

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Basketball "I'm going to graduate on time, no matter how long it takes." — unnamed basketball senior, University of Pittsburgh

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Soul "The whole course of human history may depend on a change of heart in a single solitary, even humble individual. For it is within the soul of the individual that the battle between good and evil is waged and ultimately won or lost." — Henry David Thoreau

What Liberals Believe First Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Rights of a Citizen in a Democracy—The Patriot Act "The patriot Act has gone too far. Secret renditions should be stopped. Torture must be outlawed. Our military should not spy on our own people." — Robert Byrd, remarks delivered on the U. S. Senate floor, "Securing America Without Destroying Liberties" (December 16, 2005)

What Liberals Believe Second Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Conservative Impulse—Certainty "After 9/11, good old moral certainty was back—or so it seemed. Conservatives could once again insist that there was only one moral code in our world, as eternally true as 2 + 2 = 4." — Ira Chernus, "Voting Their Fears," ProgressiveTrail.org (December 15, 2004)

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Soccer "I we played like that every week, we wouldn't be so inconsistent." — Bryan Robson

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Spirituality "There are many, many gates to the sacred and they are as wide as we need them to be." — Sherry Anderson

What Liberals Believe First Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Rights of a Citizen in a Democracy—Abortion "Among the first things the Nazis did upon seizing power in 1933 was to outlaw abortion." — Steven Conn, "In Struggle for Women's Freedom, Which Side is U. S. On?" St. Paul Pioneer Press (June 23, 2006)

What Liberals Believe Second Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Conservative Impulse—Conformity "The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself." — Rita Mae Brown, Venus Envy (1993)

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Soccer "It's now 1—1, an exact reversal of the score on Saturday." — Radio 5 Live

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Success "To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition, to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

What Liberals Believe First Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Rights of a Citizen in a Democracy—Civil Liberties "It's too bad, really, that Americans don't pledge allegiance to the Constitution—and don't revere it as they do the Stars and Stripes. If they did, they'd see the folly in defending a rectangle of cloth at the expense of the parchment's promises." — Editorial, "Shielding the Flag, Shattering Liberty," Minneapolis Star Tribune (June 22, 2006)

What Liberals Believe Second Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Conservative Impulse—Conservatism "Who knew, in 2000, that "compassionate conservatism" meant bigger government, unrestricted government spending, government intrusion in personal matters, government ineptitude, and cronyism in disaster relief?" — Christopher Buckley, son of conservative icon William F. Buckley, "Let's Quit While We're Behind," Washington Monthly (October 2006)

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Soccer "And Arsenal now have plenty of time to dictate the last few seconds." — Peter Jones

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Teaching "The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself." — Edward Bulweer-Lytton

What Liberals Believe First Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Rights of a Citizen in a Democracy—Dignity "People want politicians to STAND FOR THE PEOPLE, not grovel beneath the corporations." — Ralph Nader, "Democrats Finally Wake Up to Need for Minimum Wage Hike," Common Dreams (June 24, 2006)

What Liberals Believe Second Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Conservative Impulse—The Conservative Character "The idea that conservatives trust the market while progressives want the government is a myth. Conservatives simply are not honest about the ways in which they want government to intervene to distribute income upwards." — Dean Baker, The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer (2006)

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Soccer ". . . and some 500 Italians make the trip, in a crowd of only 400." — David Smith

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Technology "We share an American cultural bias that every problem we face has a technical "fix," if only we can find it. That bias is fostered by armies of experts who make a living "fixing" things." — Parker Palmer

What Liberals Believe First Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Rights of a Citizen in a Democracy—Free Speech "The best remedy for free speech to which you object is not squelching that speech, but countering it with speech that upholds your point of view." — Editorial, "The Reagans' Controversy—Must Not See TV?" Philadelphia Inquirer (November 9, 2003)

What Liberals Believe Second Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Conservative Impulse—Conservative Persecution Complex "Understanding themselves as victims besieged by a hateful world absolves conservatives of responsibility for what goes on around them. It excuses them for their failures . . . blaming it all on a deprived liberal elite." — Thomas Frank, What's the Matter with Kansas? (2004)

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Soccer "Newcastle, of course, unbeaten in their last five wins." — Brian Moore

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Terrorism "We all have to change. The world's poor cannot be led by people like Mr. Bin Laden who think they can find redemption in our destruction. But the world's rich cannot be led by people who play to our shortsighted selfness, and pretend that we can forever claim for ourselves what we do not for others." — Bill Clinton

What Liberals Believe First Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Rights of a Citizen in a Democracy—Freedom "Control of our lives and destinies is what freedom is about, what democracy is about, and at a very fundamental level, what life itself is about." — Caroline Arnold, "Status and Syntax: Who Controls? Who's Controlled?" Common Dreams (November 13, 2005)

What Liberals Believe Second Quote of Day: In May Featuring—The Conservative Impulse—Domination "Controlling others through force, fear, coercion, or deceit is what war and imperialism are about, what racism, homophobia, anti-abortionism, religious fanaticism, slavery, and torture are about." — Caroline Arnold, "Status and Syntax: Who Controls? Who's Controlled?" Common Dreams (November 13, 2005)

Dumbest Thing Said for the Day: From the world of Soccer "Strangely, in slow-motion replay, the ball seemed to hang in the air for even longer." — David Acfield